Thoughtput

Gear6 News: $10 Million Financing Secured

Gear6 Secures $10 Million Financing Round From Horizon Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners and InterWest Partners

Centralized Storage Caching Innovator Lands Second Major Financing Round to Bolster Company Growth and Expansion

Mountain View, Calif. – March 26, 2008 – Gear6, accelerating I/O for real time application performance, today announced it has secured a $10 million dollar financing round led by Horizon Ventures. Existing investors U.S. Venture Partners and InterWest Partners also participated in the round. The funds will be used to bolster the company’s market expansion being fueled by increasing demand for its CACHEfx line of scalable caching appliances. Centralized storage caching is rapidly emerging as the most simple and cost-effective way to increase data center application performance while dramatically reducing total storage costs. [read the full news release here]

Introducing the G100

Gear6 Expands Market Reach with New, Entry-Level Centralized Storage Caching Appliance

New G100 Slashes Storage Costs, Leverages Existing Systems and Eliminates Performance-Threatening I/O Bottlenecks

Mountain View, Calif. – March 17, 2008 – Gear6, accelerating I/O for real time application performance, today announced the launch of the CACHEfx G100 scalable caching appliance. This product expands the reach of centralized storage caching to a broader customer base in need of rebalancing their existing storage configurations to lower total system costs, increase I/O performance, reduce rack space, and cut expensive energy consumption. The G100 delivers the same feature set and capabilities as the full CACHEfx product line in a more compact and lower cost configuration. The new appliance is designed for customers requiring moderate bandwidth and cache capacity looking to cut costs and simplify configurations for performance oriented storage. CACHEfx appliances scale easily as modular building blocks, allowing customers to cost-effectively start small and “scale as you grow” as performance requirements increase. [click here for the full news release]

Gear6 News: Analyzing and Improving Performance

Gear6 Unveils Enhanced Software Capabilities of CACHEfx Appliance to Better Analyze and Improve Data Center I/O Performance

Latest Reflex OS™ Release Diagnoses and Eliminates I/O Bottlenecks for Optimized Application Performance

Mountain View, Calif. – January 28, 2008 – Gear6, accelerating storage for real time application performance, today announced a powerful suite of tools to understand, improve, and manage I/O performance. Reflex OS, powering CACHEfx™ scalable caching appliances, provides a centralized view of data traffic between NFS clients and servers. As a result, system administrators now have unprecedented visibility into workload profiles to diagnose performance problems and also correct them. Typically, profiling tools are restricted to identifying performance issues but require separate problem resolution through manual intervention. With its combination of fine grained statistics and intelligent caching, the CACHEfx appliance uniquely integrates the ability to identify and fix I/O performance problems on the fly. [click here for the full news release]

Gear6 News + New Whitepaper

It was a busy couple of weeks in November for Gear6 as we participated in two shows, SuperComputing (SC07) and Oracle Open World.

Prior to the SuperComputing show, we spent time validating a significant performance achievement of 872,000 IOPS with a single CACHEfx appliance. This milestone is important both for the sheer magnitude of shared I/O delivered to applications, and because it enables this performance on existing NAS and NFS infrastructure.

We also released a new white paper for Oracle Open World on Accelerating Oracle Databases with Direct NFS and Centralized Storage Caching.

Oracle announced their virtualization strategy of Oracle VMs. This fits in line with our assessment that more clients (both real and virtual) will be accessing fewer data sets and storage systems through server virtualization. We've addressed this in another Gear6 white paper, Server Virtualization: Avoiding the I/O Trap.

And David Marshall at the InfoWorld Virtualization Report put together a podcast regarding our recent news.

The Real Need for Virtual I/O Performance

New Study From Industry Researcher TheInfoPro™ Confirms Increased Demand for Greater I/O Performance for Server Virtualization

Gear6 Centralized Caching Solutions Address Industry-wide Need for Accelerated and Sustainable I/O Performance Within Existing Server and Storage Infrastructures

Mountain View, Calif. – October 15, 2007 – Gear6, accelerating storage for real time application performance, today announced key findings from server and storage studies conducted by TheInfoPro, an independent research network for the IT industry, that confirms accelerated and sustainable I/O performance is a top priority for data center managers considering server virtualization and/or storage consolidation initiatives. Based on data from “TheInfoPro’s Wave 9 Storage and Wave 5 Server Studies” it can be concluded that the ability to add sustainable I/O performance without requiring complicated storage tiering or data migrations can save companies significant time and money.

Click here for the full news release.

Click here for the report.

Gear6 News: Sony Selects CACHEfx

CACHEfx Scalable Caching Appliances from Gear6 deployed at Sony Pictures Imageworks to Accelerate Image Rendering Applications

                                                        

Centralized Storage Caching Solution Dramatically Reduces I/O Response Time While Simplifying Infrastructure

Mountain View, CA – August 6, 2007 – Gear6, accelerating storage for real time application performance, today announced that Sony Pictures Imageworks is deploying its CACHEfx™ scalable caching appliances to dramatically accelerate image rendering for digital film production. Imageworks selected the Gear6 centralized caching solution because it delivers I/O response times under one half of a millisecond for applications running on thousands of processors. The Gear6 solution also easily fits into Imageworks’ existing environment, reducing the need for data replication while simplifying storage tiers. This enhances the flexibility and manageability of Imageworks’ storage infrastructure.

Click here for the complete news release.

Gear6 News: GXT Selects CACHEfx

GX Technology Selects Gear6 Scalable Caching Appliances to Accelerate Seismic Imaging Applications

Centralized Storage Caching Solution Dramatically Improves Project Time-to-Completion and Streamlines Infrastructure Management

Mountain View, Calif. – June 19, 2007 – Gear6, accelerating storage for real time application performance, today announced that GX Technology (GXT), a leading provider of advanced seismic imaging solutions to oil and gas companies worldwide, is deploying its CACHEfx scalable caching appliances to accelerate strategic seismic data processing applications and streamline infrastructure management. The Gear6 centralized storage caching solution, which integrated transparently into GXT’s infrastructure, helps to streamline and significantly reduce the turnaround time for projects that rely on these input/output intensive applications. With thousands of processing nodes and nearly a petabyte of seismic storage, the demanding GXT data and application environment showcases the ability of CACHEfx appliances to power extremely large workloads and data sets.

Click here to read the full news release...

Gear6 News: CACHEfx Launches!

Gear6 Unveils Industry’s First Terabyte-Scale Caching Appliances to Accelerate Data Intensive Applications                                          

Leading Enterprises Deploy Centralized Storage Caching for Immediate Performance and Productivity Gains

Mountain View, CA — May 14, 2007 — Gear6, accelerating storage for real time application performance, today unveiled the CACHEfx™ line of scalable caching appliances, the world's first terabyte-scale caching products that dramatically accelerate response times and throughput for a wide variety of demanding, cross-industry enterprise applications. Available now, CACHEfx appliances complement existing network attached storage (NAS) by centralizing a massive pool of coherent memory that serves data 10-to-50 times faster than mechanical disks, eliminating I/O bottlenecks and "hotspots." Gear6 centralized storage caching solutions deploy transparently in the data center to preserve current infrastructure, applications, file systems, and storage management software. Leading enterprise organizations are deploying the broadly applicable centralized storage caching solutions from Gear6 to achieve these significant performance gains, protect existing investments, avoid over-provisioning, and guarantee high quality-of-service.

For the complete news release, please click here.

Virtual Spotlight on Storage

IDC issued a news release with their top 10 global storage predications for 2007. I only had a chance to see the first three in the release, but that was enough to convince me that the predictions are on track and relevant to a couple of major trends underway.

Richard Villars' comment on bridging the gap between server and storage solutions is spot on. In fact, Gear6 just released a new whitepaper titled Server Virtualization: Avoiding the I/O Trap. The basic premise is that deploying server virtualization without considering the storage implications can have unintended consequences. We first explored this in an earlier blog post, Virtual I/O Trap.

Prediction #3 is also relevant:

3. Explosion in file-based data will drive more investments in file virtualization and clustered file solutions

More on that in a soon-to-come post.

Data Center Megatrends

It is the time of year to reflect and predict industry trends, and to do so we launched a new whitepaper titled Data Center Megatrends: Consolidate, Conserve, and Virtualize.

Data center design principles are changing. Driven by the need to scale to unprecedented levels of size and performance, the Megatrends of consolidation, conservation, and virtualization are being led by the Internet giants and adopted by enterprises.

The Megatrends are everywhere. But while many are simply declaring trends, we've gone a step further to provide actionable steps for companies to realize returns in these areas.

Our latest paper chronicles how the megatrends are impacting the data center, and more specifically storage environments. It concludes with ways that centralized storage caching helps companies cope with the Megatrends and get a leg up on both performance and financial metrics. Enjoy the read!

News: Gear6 Announces Centralized Caching

Gear6 Announces Industry's First Centralized Storage Caching Solution for Accelerating Data Center Systems and Applications

Scalable caching appliances eliminate the server-storage performance gap and deliver real time data access

Menlo Park, CA — October 17, 2006 — Gear6, accelerating storage for real time application performance, today announced the industry's first centralized storage caching solution, a truly unique innovation for the data center. The appliance-based solution closes the performance gap created by decades of server and CPU advances that have left disk data access-a mechanical process-far behind. The Gear6 solution provides unmatched I/O throughput, reduces disk access time from milliseconds to microseconds, and scales to terabytes of capacity. This new approach complements existing NAS/NFS deployments and installs transparently in the data center without requiring changes to current applications or infrastructure. Gear6 centralized caching solutions deliver dramatic performance benefits, reduce the need to over-provision storage, and provide protection from peak load disruptions.

Click here for the full news release.

Whitepapers and Industry Views: Digging Deeper into the I/O Bottleneck

We've launched a new technical white paper called Disk Storage Shortfall which covers the technical aspects of the Server-Storage Performance Gap:

Technical White paper: Disk Storage Shortfall
Understanding the root cause of the I/O bottleneck
"While we are bound to have disk drives for a long time, current disk-based storage cannot keep up with the increasing processing capabilities of powerful servers and appetite of data-intensive applications. The existing disk storage infrastructure needs assistance, and it is time to properly apply advanced technology to solve this performance gap."

An industry piece popped up recently from Greg Schulz at The StorageIO Group

Industry View: Data Center I/O Performance Issues and Impacts
A look at I/O performance bottlenecks and their impact on time sensitive applications
"The StorageIO Group sees that, even with efforts to reduce storage capacity or improve capacity utilization with ILM enabled infrastructures, applications leveraging rich content will continue to consume more storage capacity and require additional I/O performance."

For a snapshot of Greg's paper, see his article in INFOSTOR.

News: Gear6 Expands Management Team

Gear6 Expands Management Team, Adding Executives from NetApp and Adaptec

R. Elliot Carpenter appointed VP of Finance and Operations and Brian S. Gladden named VP of Sales

Menlo Park, CA — August 15, 2006 — Gear6, accelerating storage and delivering real time performance for the enterprise data center, today announced the expansion of its management team. R. Elliot Carpenter joins as vice president of finance and operations, and Brian S. Gladden will serve as vice president of sales.

Elliot Carpenter brings solid experience in corporate finance for technology through his work as chief financial officer of Roxio, a leader in digital media software. Prior to that, he held various positions at Adaptec in Mergers and Acquisitions, Treasury and Manufacturing Operations. Elliot is a certified public accountant.

“Elliot adds strong financial acumen and deep experience in operations to the company,” said Tom Shea, president and chief executive officer of Gear6. “We will benefit from his expertise as we enter a period of fast-paced growth.”

As vice president of sales, Brian Gladden will direct the sales strategy and build on his past successes in delivering mainstream enterprise solutions to Fortune 500 companies. Formerly with NetApp, Gladden will drive the expansion of the company's customer base and sales channels, and move momentum across vertical markets.

“I am delighted to have Brian join the company, adding his considerable industry background to our management group,” said Tom Shea. “His experience in storage networking solutions for enterprise data centers will help us quickly secure a leading market position accelerating the performance of today's IT systems.”

“I am excited to be joining the Gear6 team,” said Carpenter. “Gear6 solutions bring a unique approach to improving productivity in the enterprise data center, with an eye towards improving our customers' bottom line. I look forward to contributing to the growth and success of the company.”

Gladden added, “The market is ready for a breakthrough like this. Gear6 offers a new solution that is simple, fast and cost effective. Our ability to complement and enhance existing infrastructure fits perfectly with today's needs. I am thrilled to have a strategic role in moving this innovation forward in the market.”

Whitepaper: The Server-Storage Performance Gap

We've launched our first whitepaper which covers the background and impact of the Server-Storage Performance Gap in more detail.

WHITEPAPER: The Server-Storage Performance Gap
How disk drive throughput and access time affect performance.

While we are bound to have disk drives for a long time, current disk-based storage cannot keep up with the increasing processing capabilities of powerful servers and appetite of data-intensive applications. The existing disk storage infrastructure needs assistance, and it is time to properly apply advanced technology to solve this performance gap.

It seems ironic that as we launch this paper, the disk drive is celebrating it's 50th anniversary. See our previous post, Still Spinning After All These Years.

News: Gear6 Secures $10 Million To Accelerate Storage And Deliver Real Time Performance

Company expands senior management team with noted industry veterans

Menlo Park, CA — July 11, 2006 — Gear6, accelerating storage and delivering real time performance, today announced a $10 million round of funding led by InterWest Partners, and joined by previous investor U.S. Venture Partners (USVP). The financing will support the market entry of Gear6 solutions, designed to address the widening gap between increasingly powerful servers and constrained, disk-based storage systems. Deployed in the data center, Gear6 products eliminate bottlenecks and deliver guaranteed performance to existing storage infrastructures. These real time capabilities speed up applications, provide protection from peak load disruptions, and improve quality of service.

"Gear6 has designed a powerful technology base for solutions that remove barriers to speed and performance in the data center,” said Khaled Nasr, partner at InterWest. “The management team, chosen experts in storage, networking, and enterprise software, has identified a unique and compelling approach to boost existing enterprise infrastructure and increase productivity. We're enthusiastic about the market potential and eager to advance the roll out of this innovative technology."

The funding increases momentum for Gear6, and builds on other recent milestones:

• In 2005, the company recruited industry veterans Geoff Barrall and Rich Boberg to help shape the strategy for the Gear6 technology platform. Geoff Barrall is CEO, Trusted Data, and founder of BlueArc Corporation, the third leading US supplier of Enterprise NAS. Rich Boberg is a noted consultant and 12-year veteran in software development and management at NetApp, where he was employee number six.

• Starting in 2006, the company began an aggressive campaign to add storage networking experience to the senior management team that already included Matt Oberdorfer, Chief Technology Officer and Founder, and longtime veteran of high-performance computing. Martin Patterson, also an early Gear6 executive, was formerly Vice President of Engineering and a Founder of TerraSpring, a pioneer in data center virtualization and provisioning acquired by Sun to power their N1 roadmap.

• In January 2006, Tom Shea was appointed President and CEO of Gear6, selected for his years of management and execution experience. He was previously CEO of Mirra, developer of digital content production products which was sold to Seagate, and President and COO of Roxio, developer and publisher of digital media software and tools. The Roxio business began at Adaptec, during Shea's long tenure there, and spun out as a public company in 2001.

• In February 2006, Gary Orenstein joined the Gear6 executive team as Vice President of Marketing, chosen for his deep knowledge of the business value of innovative technology and his experience in storage networking. Orenstein served as Vice President of Marketing for Compellent, a modular enterprise storage provider. Orenstein was also co-founder of Nishan Systems, a leader in the IP storage market, acquired by McDATA.

"Gear6 has solid technology and leadership and is ready to seize the market opportunity for storage acceleration,” said Tom Shea, president and CEO of Gear6. “Aimed at the mainstream enterprise, our solutions dramatically reduce the time and complexity of achieving real time performance for critical business applications. We deliver unmatched capabilities, and do not require any changes to existing infrastructure—this is true innovation. The financial support of our investors enables Gear6 to execute our plans and achieve a market leadership position."

 

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Thoughtput coming Summer 2006!

Stay tuned for Thoughtput...news, ideas, and commentary on Gear6 and the real time data center. Coming Summer 2006.